الفهرس 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
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Abstract
The present study was conducted to determine the dressing percentage, nutritive value and public health importance of rabbit meat. A total of 80 samples included 20 each of male balady, female balady, male chinchilla and female chinchilla rabbit meat were randomly collected from different poultry slaughter shops in Assiut city, Egypt. The samples were transferred to the laboratory under refrigerated condition in an ice tank where they left in the refrigerator for 24hrs before being prepared for chemical analysis.
1- Dressing percentage:
Live weight, dressing weight and dressing percentage were recorded. The prepared samples were subjected to a proximate analysis (moisture, protein, fat, ash and carbohydrate); calculation of gross energy; calculation of percentage of calories from each of protein, fat and carbohydrate; and determination of cholesterol, calcium and phosphorus content.
Regarding the live weight, dressing weight and dressing percentage of male balady, female balady, male chinchilla and female chinchilla, the mean values were 1300.0±28.56, 997.0±26.85g and 76.58±0.50%; 1113.5±17.94, 827.5±14.12g and 74.30±0.24%; 1821.0±21.41, 1211.75±15.22g and 66.54±0.17% and 1862.0±22.39, 1252.5±16.35g and 67.26±0.26%, respectively.
2- Nutritive value:
a. Moisture content (%):
The mean values were 73.61±0.36, 73.66±0.26, 74.37±0.11 and 74.51±0.20% for the examined samples.
b. Protein content (%):
The mean values of the examined male balady, female balady, male chinchilla and female chinchilla were 22.16±0.36, 21.15±0.23, 19.00±0.10 and 18.33±0.22, respectively.
c. Fat content (%):
The mean values of the fat content (%) of the fore mentioned samples were 2.27±0.05, 3.08±0.17, 5.24±0.08 and 5.82±0.10, respectively.
d. Ash content (%):
Regarding the ash content (%) of the examined samples, the mean values were 1.63±0.07, 1.77±0.12, 1.19±0.00 and 1.18±0.00, respectively.
e. Carbohydrate content (%):
The calculated mean values of carbohydrate of the examined male balady, female balady, male chinchilla and female chinchilla rabbit meat samples were 0.33±0.05, 0.34±0.06, 0.20± 0.04 and 0.16±0.02, respectively.
3- Trace elements:
a. Calcium content.
b. Phosphorus content.
For the calcium and phosphorus content, the mean values of the examined male balady, female balady, male chinchilla and female chinchilla rabbit samples were 20.17±0.15 and 332.77±2.33; 20.55±0.16 and 333.02±2.04; 10.41±0.23 and 232.94±1.44 and 10.19±0.23 and 229.87±0.93mg/100g, respectively.
4- Public health importance
a. Calories:
The mean gross energy values (Kcal/100gm) were 110.37±1.67, 113.66±1.86, 124.00±0.72 and 126.31 for the previously mentioned rabbit meat samples, respectively.
The mean values of the percentage of calories from the protein content of the examined samples were 80.31±0.34, 74.67±0.96, and 61.32±0.42 and 58.04±0.58%, respectively. While the values of calories percentage from fat were 18.47±0.35, 24.12±1.02, 38.02±0.43 and 41.45±0.61%, respectively. For carbohydrate the values were 1.21±0.19, 1.21±0.20, and 0.66±0.11 and 0.52±0.06%, respectively.
b. Cholesterol:
Concerning the cholesterol content (mg/100gm), the mean values were 60.42±0.60, 73.76±2.28, 115.01±0.57 and 120.11±0.61 for the analyzed samples, respectively.
The obtained data concluded that the rabbit’s meat consider a high nutritive value and public health importance.